“I just like to be up in the air, and the feeling of being a part of the plane.”
John Coward
John started in Tiger Moths, flew for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, and then British Airways, ending his career going around the world in B707s. On retirement, he flew gliders in Wales. Quoted in the wonderful 2018 book Skybound.
“Your new job is to say ‘no,’ when everyone else says ‘go’.”
Happy New Year! Here’s to resolutions of flying more, flying better. This is from new Delta captain Jeremy King, his first trip as pilot-in-command of an airliner:
https://wordsaloft.substack.com/p/managing-delays-gaining-time-without
“Relax. Loosen your muscles and sit quite calmly in your seat. And relax. That is the secret of enjoying flying from the first moment that you sit in an aeroplane.”
~ Wing Commander Nigel Tangye, Teach Yourself To Fly, 1938.
This was the first book in the Teach Yourself series. It was so good that in World War II the British Air Ministry recommended pilots to buy a copy, and Tangye was asked to train prospective RAF pilots.
The funny little book series rapidly expanded, the yellow and blue Teach Yourself books covered all kinds of subjects, selling millions of copies. It was the original For Dummies book series concept.
And the advice is solid. Flying with master glider pilot, and 5-time US Aerobatic champion, Jason Stephens I was hoping for advanced instruction. The real high-level secrets. “Relax,” he said. Sitting behind me he was watching my shoulders tense up. “Relax . . .
A wonderful story from Neil Gaiman:
Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.
On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”
And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”
And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.
Tumblr post by Neil Gaiman, 12 May 2017.
Engineer, physician, and astronaut Mae Jemison on thinking for yourself:
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist because you’ll have already shut it out… You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself.”
Source: Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, November 2009.
